What Is SoyCon?

SoyCon was developed by an ordinary con goer named Soy Sauce. He attended his first convention at Anime Central back in 2005. It was the first time he was exposed to conventions, cosplay, and japanese animation. Soy loved the community and destined himself to comeback a year later with intentions of meeting new people and getting plenty of photo opportunities with his first cosplay, Uzumaki Naruto (Naruto: Shippuuden). After ACen 2006 (Anime Central for short), he’d went over to the forums & met more people with the same interest as him. It began with going to meetups, then it expanded to networking. By the time 2007 rolled around, he started to fly out to other conventions in the likes of Ohayocon (Columbus, OH), Youmacon (Detroit, MI), and even Anime Expo, the largest anime convention in the United States. Soy met so many people over the past years that he was almost like the center of a large community network.

In the summer of 2006, Chicagoland Cosplay Club hosted 2 events.One was the C^3 picnic, where cosplayers all over the Chicagoland area gather to cosplay and have some picnic fun. There were some good picnic food, fun music to dance to, and just having a field day with people alike. Also, C^3 hosted the first ever ACen Aftermath Photoshoot in downtown Chicago. It was probably one of the best times anyone could had everexperienced. Until 2007’s ACen Aftermath photoshoot came around. This was the first organized gathering I’d ever put together. The inspiration came from 2006’s ACen Aftermath photoshoot and the experience came from Anime Expo 2007’s Naruto Photoshoot which consisted over 400+ cosplayers. The Chicago photoshoot was a huge success consisting of over 40+ cosplayers attending and having a great time.

After the epicness of the 2007 Photoshoot, Soy had decided if he can create something new and different from the other gatherings that are happening around the midwestern side of the United States. After one proposed idea on the Anime Central forums, many people online quickly responded to his idea of creating his very own Gathering/Convention. With having a litte ego, he decided to rename the event from ACen Aftermath Photoshoot to SoyCon. SoyCon is a 2-Day event where cosplayers from not just only the Chicagoland area, but mainly any of the states that are closeby. The first day will be a photoshoot in downtown Chicago, just like the traditional ACen Aftermath Photoshoot for the past 2 years. The second day will be a large picnic full of events and fun. Panels, participation events, even a cosplay show with awards being handed out. SoyCon will make its debut in July 2008.

“This will be the number one cosplay gathering/meetup you will ever experience.”

Sincerely,

Soy Sauce